STUTTGARTER SCHOOL, AND THE AFTERMATH OF 1968: THE ARCH+ AND IGMA IN THE CONTEXT OF PLANNING THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY PHILOSOPHY
"Stuttgart School" in the architectural context is commonly understood through the conservative architectural teaching of Theodor Fischer students like Paul Bonatz, Paul Schmitthenner and Heinz Wetzel. However, when talking about it, the much more progressive "Stuttgart School" of the aftermath of 1968, still yet to be researched, should not be forgotten. There are various reasons for that.
On the one hand, the "Stuttgart School" from the late 1960s and 1970s (also) stands for the radical experiment of a "faculty without professors", in which students independently organized seminars, design classes and exams, printed leaflets and founded magazines; on the other hand, the most important result of this "faculty without professors" from today's perspective is the foundation of the journal ARCH+ 1 in January 1968 in the Kollegiengebäude 1 (K1) of the University of Stuttgart. Furthermore, it stands for the founding of IGMA in the same year, the first institute for "architectural theory" in Germany directed by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Joedicke, who published books as the "Documents of Modern Architecture" and the "Arbeitsberichte zur Planungsmethodik" and at least indirectly influenced the early phase of ARCH+. Last but not least, it stands for intellectuals such as Max Bense, who worked from 1950 as Associate Professor and from 1963 as Professor (Emeritus 1978) for Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, or Horst Rittel, who worked from 1973 to 1990 as Professor at the Institute for the Foundations of Planning. A detailed analysis of the reception of Bense as Rittel in architectural circles is yet to be done.
Preliminary work:
Stephan Trüby (guest curator): ARCH + 221: "Tausendundeine Theorie"
Stephan Trüby, Sandra Oehy (ed.): ARCH+ features Special Issue: IGmAde: 50+ Years of Architecture, Theory & Poiesis '68 '18, in: ARCH+ 233: "Norm-Architektur - Von Durand zu BIM" (November 2018)
Contact Person: Verena Hartbaum, Stephan Trüby